There is known a relay which includes a plurality of movable contacts and a plurality of fixed contacts. For example, a contact piece of a relay disclosed in Patent Document 1 includes a first divided piece and a second divided piece. An open/close movable contact is attached to the first divided piece, while an energization movable contact is attached to the second divided piece. An open/close fixed contact and an energization fixed contact are attached to a fixed contact terminal.
According to the relay described above, a height of the open/close movable contact from the contact piece is larger than a height of the energization movable contact from the contact piece. Accordingly, at the time of switching from a reset state to a set state of the relay, the energization movable contact and the energization fixed contact come into contact with each other after the open/close movable contact and the open/close fixed contact come into contact with each other. On the other hand, at the time of switching from the set state to the reset state of the relay, the open/close movable contact and the open/close fixed contact separate from each other to cut off a load after the energization movable contact and the energization fixed contact separate from each other.
According to the relay described above, therefore, the open/close movable contact and the open/close fixed contact achieve opening or closing of a load, while the energization movable contact and the energization fixed contact achieve not opening or closing of a load, but only energization. This configuration reduces generation of an arc between the energization movable contact and the energization fixed contact, even at the time of generation of an arc between the open/close movable contact and the open/close fixed contact.